Patent Application
20240271337
The disclosure relates to a device and a method for enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index related to a spinning mill.
A spinning mill typically includes a large number of textile machines and auxiliary machines for converting natural and man-made fibers and their blends into yarns of a desired quantity and quality. Several types of textile machines may be arranged along a production line, such as textile machines for fiber preparation, textile machines for spinning preparation, ring spinning machines, compact spinning machines, rotor spinning machines, air-jet spinning machines, automation machines, winding machines, texturing machines, etc. The work of the textile machines is supported by a variety of auxiliary machines, which can be directly involved in the progressing production process (such as conveyors between individual textile machines) or indirectly (such as air conditioning systems or laboratory instruments).
A spinning mill may include several hundred textile machines of different types as well as auxiliary machines and may cover an area of several hundred square meters. Furthermore, textile machines and auxiliary machines may include several hundred or several thousand components, in particular components for processing textile materials running in a parallel manner. During the process of converting natural and man-made fibers and their blends into yarns, textile materials may be opened and cleaned, converted into card sliver, processed by draw frames and/or roving frames, spun into yarns, automatically transported from a previous textile machine to a next textile machine, rewound to assure a proper yarn performance in further manufacturing processes, textured to provide fiber-look to flat filament yarns, etc. In order to provide a desired production capacity along a serial production line, textile machines or components of textile machines may include parallel configurations.
Thus, a previous processing step may be serially followed by a next processing step, wherein the previous processing step may require less or more parallel textile machines or components for processing textile materials than the next processing step. For example, the step of fiber preparation delivering slivers may require fewer parallel machines or components than the step of spinning slivers into yarns. Moreover, for the purpose of flexibility, redundancy, machine maintenance, etc., additional machines may be arranged, which may provide alternative or additional production capacity during particular time periods. Furthermore, for example depending on a production plan requiring less textile machines during the night than during the day, particular textile machines may be brought to a stop during particular time periods. For example, during a later time period, production may involve another set of textile machines than during an earlier time period.
For operating a spinning mill, for example at a control room of the spinning mill, user displays and user interfaces are installed for monitoring operation of the spinning mill and for controlling operation of the spinning mill by operator persons. For example, a user display may display rotation speed or productivity of the various textile machines, or quantity and quality of the fibers and/or intermediate products which are processed by the various textile machines.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
Operational readiness of the spinning mill is often not clear to the operator persons, and operator persons often do not know if the spinning mill has a normal operational readiness or a below than normal operational readiness. This in particularly also applies to supervisors like production managers, general managers, and spinning mill owners. Within the context of the present application, operational readiness generally describes the ability of a spinning mill and/or the capability of a spinning mill to reliably and efficiently perform its current task as well as to perform already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks. Without knowledge of the operational readiness, an operator person or any person concerned with ensuring an at least satisfactory mill operation performance may not be able to decide if measures have to be taken, if a possibly time-consuming analysis has to be performed, etc., or if the spinning mill is ready for executing already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks.
The present invention is also based on the insight gained by the inventors that an optimized and stable operation of a spinning mill is not possible by optimizing individual units (e.g. individual textile machines) alone, but that the entire system of the spinning mill must be considered— if necessary also including its environment. And at the same time that a real optimization of individual units is often not possible without taking into account their environment (respectively the whole mill). Particularly in the case of modern spinning mills which, as described here, comprise highly complex systems with a large number of interconnected complex subsystems, it is practically impossible for a human decision-maker to objectively assess the operational readiness of such a system in such a way that it is possible to react to existing or impending problems at an early stage by means of adequate technical measures. Part of the present invention was to identify these problems and to provide a technical solution for them.
It is of utmost importance to run a spinning mill as close as possible at its operational readiness (but not above), or maximize overall operations effectiveness (OOE), in particular in order to minimize production loss.
There may be a need for a device and a method for enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index related to a spinning mill. In particular, there may be a need for a device and a method for enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index related to a spinning mill which overcome at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, there may be a need for a device and a method enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index (mill operational readiness index) related to a spinning mill for improving operation of the spinning mill. In particular, there may be a need for a device and a method enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index related to a spinning mill for informing operator persons (and other persons interested in the operation performance of the spinning mill) if the spinning mill is ready for executing already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks. Hence e.g. also persons responsible for quality assurance and compliance can thus clearly and directly (i.e. without much own investigation, calculation and evaluation) and therefore promptly determine whether mill standards are met or if an intervention in the spinning mill operation is necessary.
Such a need may be met by the subject-matter of the invention disclosed herein. The present invention provides a highly advantageous way to measure how well a spinning mill is operating taking into consideration the therefore required direct and indirect factors and hence allows to stabilize and improve plant behavior. Thus, it becomes possible to provide a composite of likelihood and impact for a given forecasting horizon to execute scheduled production plans.
An aspect of the invention relates to an electronic device for enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index related to a spinning mill. The electronic device is configured to perform the steps of: collecting operating information of the spinning mill; determining from the operating information the operational readiness index; accessing the operational readiness index for enabling displaying on the user display the operational readiness index. Operating information may be information related to current operation but may also be information related to planned operation or preventive and predictive information. Operating information and/or the operational readiness index may relate to a subsection of the spinning mill.
Spinning mills in general have an extraordinarily high number of different textile machines, some of which in turn have a large number of individual processing units, some of which are complex, and some of which are linked to each other. On the basis of the operational readiness index, operator persons can decide more quickly if a spinning mill is running in a normal state and is ready for executing already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks. As well operator persons and other persons interested in the performance of the mill (in particular also persons responsible for quality assurance and compliance) can quickly access technical information about the state of the spinning mill and for example quickly decide if the spinning mill is ready for executing a planned production plan, or if the production plan should be transferred to another spinning mill.
Operational readiness can take external aspects into account. For example, the capacity of an electrical power grid available to a spinning mill and/or current failure probabilities of such a grid.
Since the individual textile machines—for example, depending on the end product to be manufactured—can be operated in very different configurations and with a variety of parameters, the actual overall condition of a spinning mill can often not be perceived by an operator person, or only to a limited extent. As a result, a critically low resilience of a spinning mill, for example, can go unnoticed, which means that even a small technical problem can lead to a major problem. Or, due to prolonged production of a particular product, it may go unnoticed that a spinning mill lacks the capacity to produce other products that are in demand for being produced. This may occur because certain machines are defective, have insufficient production capacity, are in need of major maintenance, etc.
Determining the operational readiness index may depend on a configuration of a spinning mill, such as depend on numbers and/or on types of textile machines, depend on numbers and/or types of auxiliary machines, depend on sequences of textile machines, etc. For example, for a first configuration of a spinning mill which includes four draw frame textile machines which are followed by eight speed frame textile machines, the operational readiness index may be determined in a different manner than for a second configuration of a spinning mill which includes only two draw frame textile machines which are followed by eight speed frame textile machines, because failure of a draw frame machine of the first configuration has a different impact on the operational readiness of the spinning mill than failure of a draw frame machine of the second configuration. For example, in case of the first configuration, the operational readiness index can be determined by summing up operating information indicating a quantity of produced textile material of the four draw frame machines and of operating information indicating a quantity of produced textile material of the eight speed frame. For example, the operational readiness index can be determined as a percentage. For example, the operational readiness index can be determined as a percentage relative to nominal values of produced textile materials. For example, the operational readiness index can be determined in accordance with any suitable formula for describing the ability of a spinning mill and/or the capability of a spinning mill to reliably and efficiently perform its current task, as well as possible and probable future tasks. For example, the formula for determining the operational readiness index can include expert knowledge of operator persons of a spinning mill, which expert knowledge may only available to operator persons operating a particular spinning mill. For example, operator persons may have had the experience that operating information of a textile machine of a particular type has more severely affected operational readiness of a spinning mill than a textile machine of another type. Typically, the operational readiness index of a first spinning mill may be determined in a different manner than the operational readiness index of a second spinning mill. Thus, typically, a single formula for determining the operational readiness index of a spinning mill does not exist.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for collecting operating information which includes machine information of one or more textile machines of the spinning mill. Machine information may include production, quality and energy information (such as rotation speed and energy consumption), variability thereof, time since starting operation, time since last service, number of operational failures, pending tasks etc. Determining the operational readiness index may include aggregating machine information of one or more textile machines.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for collecting operating information which includes machine information of one or more auxiliary machines of the spinning mill. Within the context of the present invention an auxiliary machine may e.g. be at least a part of a conveyor system (e.g. part of a duct system, or of a trolley-type conveyor system, or of a rail-type transport system). An auxiliary machine may also be at least part of a compressed air system, or of a climate control system (e.g. an air conditioning system for humidity and/or temperature control), or of a cooling system for machines or facility parts, or of a system for power supply etc. Particularly good results may also be obtained if operating information includes machine information which relates to a testing device in a laboratory, such as its operating status for providing accurate test results. This is because, in exceptional cases, a defect or malfunction of a laboratory device that is essential for quality assurance can lead to a standstill of an entire production process. Determining the operational readiness index may include aggregating machine information of one or more auxiliary machines.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for collecting operating information which includes one or more of a quantity and a quality of one or more of an input textile material and an output textile material of one or more textile machines of the spinning mill. For example, if quantity capacities of individual textile machines are not correctly adapted to each other, for example because of maintenance of particular textile machines, operational readiness of the spinning mill may be degraded. Quantity may relate to production in kg/h (kilogram per hour), delivery m/min (meters per minute), number of can changes at textile machines, etc. For example, if qualities of for example raw cotton is not correctly adapted to the spinning mill, operational readiness may be degraded, also in case qualities of intermediate products are not correctly adapted to the spinning mill. Quality may relate to fiber length, fiber length uniformity, fiber strength, fiber maturity, yarn strength, etc. Such operating information including one or more of a quantity and a quality can be online (e.g. sensors in the production plant) but also offline (laboratory measurements) measured values.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for collecting operating information which includes one or more environmental information of the spinning mill. Environmental information may relate to atmospheric temperature, atmospheric humidity, atmospheric pressure, air pollution, precipitation, solar irradiation, etc. Environmental information may be based on historic information, current information and/or forecast information.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for collecting operating information via one or more of a computer network and a user interface. Operating information collected via a computer network may relate to information based on sensors attached to textile machines. Operating information collected via a user interface may relate to information based on laboratory analysis results. An extract, transform, load (ETL) procedure may be involved. Hence, an offline and/or an online user interface may be used.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for determining the operational readiness index in the form of a single scalar value. A scalar value may be helpful for operator persons for determining operational readiness of the spinning mill quickly. For spinning mills with certain configurations and/or for the production of certain products a single scalar value may also be advantageous to quickly determine the operational readiness of a certain part of the spinning mill or even just of a single machine.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for determining the operational readiness index in the form of a vector of values. A vector of values may be helpful for indicating operational readiness of subsets of textile machines of the spinning mill.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for determining the operational readiness index as a percentage. The percentage may be determined with respect to a nominal operational readiness of the spinning mill.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for transmitting the operational readiness index via one or more of a push interface and a pull interface. A push interface may transmit the operational readiness index to a smartphone of an operator person, and may include an alarm function, in case the operational readiness index is below a predetermined level. A pull interface may enable lookup of the operational readiness of the spinning mill from a smartphone of an operator person with the ability for further drill down.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for determining information relating to the configuration of the mill for improving the operational readiness index and for enabling displaying this information on the user display.
Information for improving the operational readiness index may include lubrication, replacement of ring travelers of a ring spinning machine, renewal of clothing on a carding machine, purchase of additional or replacement machines, etc.
In some embodiments, the electronic device is further configured for determining actions for improving the operational readiness index and for enabling displaying these actions on the user display. Actions may include reconfiguring textile machines, adapting speed parameters, etc.
Beside an electronic device, the invention also relates to a method for enabling displaying on a user display an operational readiness index related to a spinning mill. The method includes the steps executed by an electronic device of: collecting operating information of the spinning mill; determining from the operating information the operational readiness index; accessing the operational readiness index for enabling displaying on a user display the operational readiness index.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: collecting operating information which includes machine information of one or more textile machines of the spinning mill.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: collecting operating information which includes machine information of one or more auxiliary machines of the spinning mill.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: collecting operating information which includes one or more of a quantity and a quality of one or more of an input textile material and an output textile material of one or more textile machines of the spinning mill.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: collecting operating information which includes one or more environmental information of the spinning mill. Such an embodiment allows currently existing and/or predicted and/or (e.g. statistically) expected environmental influences to be taken into account.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: collecting operating information via one or more of a computer network (respectively data network) and a user interface. An offline and/or an online user interface may be used.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: determining the operational readiness index in the form of a single scalar value.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: determining the operational readiness index in the form of a vector of values.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: determining the operational readiness index as a percentage.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: transmitting the operational readiness index via one or more of a push interface and a pull interface.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: determining information relating to the configuration of the mill for improving the operational readiness index and for enabling displaying this information on the user display.
In some embodiments, the method further includes the step of: determining actions for improving the operational readiness index and for enabling displaying these actions on the user display.
The invention will be better understood with the aid of the description of an embodiment given by way of example an illustrated by the figures, in which:
Reference will now be made to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are shown in the drawings. Each embodiment is provided by way of explanation of the invention, and not as a limitation of the invention. For example features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be combined with another embodiment to yield still another embodiment. It is intended that the present invention include these and other modifications and variations to the embodiments described herein.
A spinning mill enables producing from a source textile material 1 a desired textile material 8 in a desired quantity and/or quality. Each of the textile machines 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78 illustrated in
The spinning mill M illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
Operating information i1, i2, i3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 generated or sensed at the textile machines 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89 may include rotation speed, energy consumption, temperature of at least some machine components, delivery, number of doffing, shift down time, time till doffing, can changes, relative pressure and quality (temperature, humidity, and/or impurities) of compressed air to be used.
Operating information i1, i2, i3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 generated or sensed at the textile machines 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89 may include information about quantity and/or quality of textile materials 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 processed by the textile machines 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89, such as a weight per hour, a density, number of yarn breaks, number of sliver breaks, of fiber moisture, micronaire, fiber length, fiber length uniformity, fiber strength, fiber neps, fiber maturity, fiber color, fiber trash, yarn/sliver/roving count/hank, yarn/sliver/roving weight deviation, yarn/sliver/roving evenness, thick places, thin places, twist level, yarn strength, yarn elongation properties, tenacity, twist and count, yarn hairiness, yarn abrasion resistance wear properties, yarn color, etc. of textile material processed by the textile machines 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89.
Operating information iM generated or sensed at the spinning mill M may include environmental information of the spinning mill M, such as an atmospheric temperature, an atmospheric humidity, atmospheric pressure, air pollution, precipitation, solar irradiation, etc. It is also possible to use environmental information at least partly based on empirical values (e.g. historical and statistical climate values for the location of a spinning mill). It is also possible to use environmental information at least partially based on short- and/or medium-and/or long-term forecasts of atmospheric temperature, atmospheric humidity, air pollution, precipitation solar radiation, etc.
Operating information iM generated or sensed at the spinning mill M may include safety-relevant information, such as the presence of fire extinguishing equipment and/or the condition of corresponding equipment (e.g. filling levels of extinguishing gas and/or extinguishing water containers) or that presence and/or status of a fire detection and diverter system.
Operating information iM generated or sensed at the spinning mill M may include the number/frequency and/or type of notifications that at least one machine of a spinning mill issues to an operator person. Such notifications may e.g. include error messages, requests for intervention by the operator (e.g. can change, traveler change, cleaning/unclogging etc.). Operating information iM generated or sensed at the spinning mill M may include whether and/or how quickly and/or how reliably an operator person responded to notifications.
For sensing operating information i1, i2, i3, i4, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, respective electronic sensors may be arranged. Electronic sensor may relate to electronic sensors for sensing a rotation speed, electronic sensors for sensing power consumption, etc. Furthermore, operating information i1, i2, i3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 may include laboratory-analyzed findings, such as fiber densities, lubricant quality, etc.
Operating information i1, i2, i3, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, iM may be sensed and/or collected regularly or irregularly in time. Operating information i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6, i7, 18, 19, iM may be captured within short intervals at high speed or within long intervals at low speed. For example, operating information i1, i2, i3, 14, 15, 16, i7, 18, 19 sensed with electronic sensors may be captured regularly at high speed such as every minute, every second, etc. For example, operating information i1, i2, i3, i4, 5, 16, 17, 18, 19 requiring laboratory-analyzed findings may be captured irregularly at low speed, such as every Monday and Thursday, after machine maintenance, etc.
As illustrated in
The electronic device eD may take the form of a computer, for example a computer that is generally used in one place (such as a conventional desktop computer, workstation, server, etc.) or a computer that is generally portable (such as a laptop, notebook, tablet, handheld computer, etc.). The electronic device eD may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which program a processor of the electronic device eD to perform some or all of the operations and functions described in this disclosure. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), such as Hard Disk drives (HD), Solid State Disk drives (SSD), Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROMs), Read-Only Memory (ROMs), Random Access Memory (RAM), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), etc. In other embodiments, some of these operations and functions might be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic. Those operations and functions might alternatively be performed by any combination of programmable computer components and fixed hardware circuit components. In some embodiments, the machine-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the method on an electronic device eD as described in this disclosure.
As illustrated in
The electronic device eD is configured to determine from the operating information i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, 16, 17, 18, 19, iM the operational readiness index ORI.
For example, for determining the operational readiness index ORI, a scalar value is determined by summing up a rotation speed or a produced quantity of textile material of textile machines 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89 weighted with a respective time span since last service of the respective textile machine 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, 89.
According to another example, for determining the operational readiness index ORI, a scalar value is determined by calculating the percentage of responses to system notifications of one or more operator persons within one or more predefined maximum response times after the system notifications have been made by the system. For example, system notifications may relate to messages instructing operator persons to perform maintenance work, such as in case of a broken element of the spinning mill.
As illustrated in
In the prior art, various indices and measures are known. A key-performance-index evaluates the success of an organization or of a particular activity (such as projects, programs, products and other initiatives) in which it engages. Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a measure of how well a manufacturing operation is utilized (facilities, time and material) compared to its full potential, during the periods when it is scheduled to run. It identifies the percentage of manufacturing time that is truly productive. An OEE of 100% means that only good parts are produced (100% quality), at the maximum speed (100% performance), and without interruption (100% availability).
Contrary to the indices and measures of the prior art, the operational readiness index is directed to an evaluation of a readiness of a spinning mill M for executing already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks. The operational readiness index may be determined or normalized with respect to a target value or nominal value of a spinning mill. The target value or nominal value may depend on the age, size, configuration, etc. of the spinning mill. Thus, a normalized operational readiness index of 100% may indicate that the spinning mill is ready for executing already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks, while an operational readiness index of 80% may indicate that the spinning mill is not ready for executing some of the already planned as well as possible and probable future tasks, because, for example, a particular combination of states of textile machines may prevent execution of some of the already planned or possible and probable future tasks, even if each textile machine may have a normal state. On the basis of the operational readiness index, the operator persons (responsible persons) of the spinning mill may decide if the state of the spinning mill is still acceptable, or if a detailed analysis has to be performed for identifying the cause of a reduced operational readiness of the spinning mill M.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21179730.3 | Jun 2021 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2022/055445 | 6/13/2022 | WO |
